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1968: The Year that Rocked America

February 2, 2013 – April 28, 2013

The social forces that swirled through the turbulent 1960s crested in 1968. It was a turning point for a generation coming of age and a nation at war.

The year saw the peak of the Vietnam War, the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy, riots at the Democratic National Convention, assertions of Black Power at the Olympic Games, and feminist demonstrations at the Miss America pageant. In the closing days of the year, we saw Earth in its entirety for the first time from the window of the Apollo 8 space capsule.

The History Center’s1968:The Year that Rocked America exhibition, which opens on Feb. 2, 2013, will chronicle this pivotal year in American history.

This major traveling exhibition, created in partnership with the Minnesota Historical Society with support from grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, will feature state-of-the-art multimedia displays and evocative objects that will look at how the experiences of the year fueled a persistent, if often contradictory, sense of identity for the people who lived through it.

Visitors can get up close to a Bell UHI “Huey” Helicopter, view campaign memorabilia from the 1968 elections, and experience the sights, sounds, and music that helped to make 1968 one of our nation’s most explosive years.

As part of the exhibit, the History Center will display the original set from “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” which was broadcast nationally for the first time in 1968.